


Pati Pactae

by reconditarmonia



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Angst, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Love Confessions, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-19 19:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17607968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reconditarmonia/pseuds/reconditarmonia
Summary: "The more times I redo all this, the further in time we drift from one another."





	Pati Pactae

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ideallyqualia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/gifts).



> Happy Chocolate Box! I hope you enjoy this fic.
> 
> Many thanks to K.K. for brainstorming.

Homura is walking on a wire. High above the swirling ground, she dances along a steel line strung between the hulking bodies of Marla and Musette, pulling guns out of nowhere and emptying them into where their heads might be. It's taking a leaf out of Mami's book, but this wire is harder and colder than Mami's ribbons, and it'll last longer. 

Marla's familiars bend their smooth cold legs and jump clumsily, trying to reach her, but fall to the ground and flop, mouths opening and closing; Musette's have already begun their march up the plane of her body, chittering tinnily as they mass around her electric heart. Good — they're paying attention to her, not to Madoka. Madoka, who this time ended up in the labyrinth of her own free will, following Homura like her very own familiar, because Homura is her friend.

Below, in Marla's shadow, Madoka runs among rows of beds, shaking the men and women who wandered into the labyrinth and curled up under warm comforters to sleep. Some of them roll over and cover their heads with pillows; one or two wake bleary-eyed and let her take them by the hand. Suddenly, the jarring sound of water bubbles through the space, coming from everywhere and nowhere, as cracks of greenish light appear through the shadow. Marla and Musette's voices take up Homura's cry and echo it until the name "Madoka" is unrecognizable in their twin laughter, but she won't leap down to save Madoka: she's no Musette, and knows the best way to protect her heart isn't by digging in to defend it, but by killing everything that might try to harm it.

Madoka jumps onto one of the beds, pulling her rescues with her just in time before trains roar through the aisles, their beginnings and ends further away than the eye can see. The doors open, one next to each bed, and the sleepers Madoka couldn't rouse wake and board the trains, staring out the windows as the doors slam and they zoom away, far out of Madoka's reach. In the harsh light, the world outside the labyrinth appears shadowed and vague, like a darkened kitchen from the inside of a refrigerator; Homura can see from the frozen expression on Madoka's face that she's stopped time precisely as Madoka resolves to send these few people out there and stay to try to save more. Madoka doesn't know that Homura's beaten Marla and Musette so many times she could do it in her sleep. After what happened to Mami, Homura can't blame her for not wanting to wait for the labyrinth to fall and free them.

Homura sees herself reflected in each of Marla's eyes, if they're eyes and not just the openings in her cage-like mask, hiding some unknown shape curled up behind. She's never found out which is true and she doesn't especially care. She stops time and lines up a bullet into each of them.

* * *

"You're hurt!" Madoka digs in her schoolbag for a tissue, licks it, and dabs at Homura's forehead where blood is trickling down from her hair. The last of the witches' labyrinth is melting into the sidewalk around them. "And I couldn't help you at all. I was useless, and you're saving people every day —"

Madoka lets out a little gasp as Homura grabs her wrist. "You led all those people out of the labyrinth," says Homura. "Madoka, you don't even need to be a magical girl to save people. They'll always remember you. Never forget how important you are."

Madoka surprises Homura by throwing her arms around her. Her hair tickles Homura's cheek, and after a moment, when Homura can breathe again, she carefully brings up her arms around Madoka, as though she'd break if held too hard. Yes — she'd forgotten how Madoka longed to be worth something. How could she have forgotten? Then Madoka pulls back, clenching her hands and taking a breath as she locks eyes with Homura. "I'm happy spending time with you, Homura," she says. "Even if it means fighting forever, that's okay."

For a moment, Homura doesn't understand why Madoka needed to screw up her courage to say this. Sweetness is second nature to her. Then she realizes what Madoka is trying to confess. In that instant, she sees into the future, whether it's a prediction or a memory — the gray world inverted, black splinters floating around her as she falls slowly through the air, while Madoka stands on a ruined bridge and makes a deal with Kyubey to save her life. Homura can't let that happen, even if it means throwing away what Madoka is offering her.

She never takes her eyes off Madoka, as a wind out of nowhere blows her hair around her head and the shield grows back out of her arm. It's the work of only a moment to turn the hourglass back again.

**Author's Note:**

> The title, as best I could work it out with dictionaries, is meant to mean "contracted to suffer," but if I'm wrong, I'm wrong in the same fandom that calls a magical girl a puella magi? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
